A comparison of methods for the optimization of VGA colormaps

The results of a project investigating the creation of an optimum colormap for a color image are presented. Optimization methods are investigated to obtain not only the best method, but also alternate methods which provide high quality results in reasonable time. The colormap generation is presented as a two step process which includes an initial colormap selection followed by the optimization of the colormap. Three optimization techniques are investigated: the Linde-Buzo-Gray method, simulated annealing, and a new minimum variance method developed by the authors. Color images with an original 32,768 possible colors are coded using only 256 colors